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25 Years Later the Question Remains: Who’s the Real Roxanne?

You would think in a paper with such a reputation as the New York Daily News errors would be few and far between.

But, when the New York Daily News printed the tear jerker, rags to riches story on the Real Roxanne Shante (gubment name: Lolita Gooden), and how she had fought her record label, Warner, to get what was rightfully hers, obviously a fact-checker was nowhere near the piece.

The alleged compensation from her record label was to come to her in the form of a free education for “life.” So she was able to attend a couple prestigious universities, ultimately resulting in a Ph.D. in psychology from Cornell University. Wow! right?

Well, no.

The whole story, according to Slate.com, is completely false. They checked her story with a fine tooth comb, even calling folks in the Daily News story who would not corroborate the story or who chose not to comment. And as it turns out, she’s not a college graduate of any kind, much less the recipient of a Ph.D.

Now why would anyone want to turn their back on such a story? People would pull out the stops to be a part of a story on Roxanne Shante that sounds so gritty, yet inspiring.

I guess 25 years later, the joke’s still on us. Would the real Roxanne please stand up? Oops! You better not.

Reading the NY Daily News story, then reading the Slate story there might be a few legal ramifications resulting from this little fiasco. I mean, is she really treating folks without the credentials? Is she really giving the $5,000 scholarships?

Everyone say goodbye to Walter Dawkins. He’s sure to receive a pink slip for falsifying a story to this degree.

4 thoughts on “25 Years Later the Question Remains: Who’s the Real Roxanne?”

I’m not sure how to feel about this just yet. What would Shante have to gain from publicly selling a claim of this magnitude for years if it was indeed bogus? Could this be the reason for no stories of anyone else attempting to negotiate a similar contract?

Roxanne Shante’ is a liar..point blank. Lolita Gooden (her real name) doesn’t even come up as a licensed psychologist in the state or New York. This means that if you’re not licensed by your state, you CANNOT practice on any level independently. Furthermore, the thorough investigation from National Student Clearinghouse shows that she never attended Cornell University, but did attend Marymount for a semester. Shante’ is a damn liar, and if she’s been taking money from people while calling herself a psychologist, they can sue her royally for false representation. Damn, and I was all for her and proud of her…The fact is that she does not have a PhD and is not licensed—thus unable to have a legitimate private practice (a practice she claims to have had in Manhattan). It sounds to me like she has a personality disorder…for sure!

The first person to record a song as Roxanne was Shante Gooden, aka Roxanne Shante. She recorded Roxannes Revenge as an attack on UTFO for cancelling a show Marley Marl. The original song was about a fictional character.

After Roxannes Revenge became popular UTFO created their own Roxanne and made the record The Real Roxanne with 14 yr. old Elease Jack rapping as The Real Roxanne. She was removed from the label due to a ‘conflict of interest’ and replaced by Adelaida Martinez who then played the part of The Real Roxanne in the video Roxanne Roxanne.